you have a voicemail...

4pm. Monday afternoon.
I was working in the Crash office. on the phone contacting individuals here in Japan to see if they could volunteer in different ways and partner with Crash. after one particular call i noticed i had a voicemail in my inbox. so i pushed play and the message went something like this,

"Hi Kate, I'm Scot and I'm here working in the Command Center for Crash Japan and I found your name on our database and I was wondering if you would be interested in joining my team to go up north and set up a camp for the next two weeks. we leave tomorrow morning so let me know as soon as you can if you're able. thanks." (beeeeeep)

uhhh. wait. what?!? I'm working in the command center at Crash Japan finding volunteers to go up north on teams and some dude is calling me? I just had to laugh. Sometimes God works in funny little, peculiar ways. I had to ask who this said Scot was, (come to find out working only two tables away from me) went and tapped him on the shoulder and said...hi, i think you just left me a voicemail? :)

After thinking and praying quickly about it and talking to Tdub about it we both felt it was what God was asking of me to do. There has been no fear for us through this whole disaster and for me my heart has longed to go since March 12th. I realize that it's not everyone's heart and desire to go and that is totally ok, but for having such a strong pull to go and help I knew I couldn't let those desires just fall by the wayside. I really felt like the Lord was telling me to "wait" (worst answer ever) and that there would be a time He would have a place for me at the perfect time.

That voicemail stirred a whirlwind of emotions in my heart and of clothes flying in a suitcase. I was excited, nervous, overwhelmed, and caught off guard at the speediness of this assignment. I am on a "leadership base camp team" that consists of 3 other people. 3 other men, 2 are Japanese and bilingual! thank the Lord! We are a "leadership base camp team". Our role is to set up the base camp here, find the work, contacts and places to get plugged into what's already happening here and not reinvent the wheel. So that teams of people can start cycling through this area to offer relief. A lot of what we are doing is administrative and planning, preparing, and assessing probably not as "hands on" as I would enjoy, but we are setting the foundation for the year to come and that has shown itself to be a large task. :)

I left Tuesday morning at 8am to meet up with my team at the Crash command center for briefings and to load up and head up to our base camp. Now when I say "base camp" I use this term lightly because those words make me think of a dirty tent in the middle of some rubbish with no showers and a hole in the ground to tinkle in. This base camp in particular is actually being stationed out of a bed and breakfast. It's name is "House of Rest" and that is just what it is. So peaceful, comfortable and quaint surrounded by trees and mountains. It is owned by the cutest little Japanese couple you have ever seen. Kondo-Sensai and his wife Yoko-san had this little sweet haven built 29 years ago. They are both Christians and built a chapel behind the B&B that is open 24 hrs for whoever might want to use it. Their whole neighborhood has been built up around them and although they are too humble to say it, I think it's because they settled here. They are leaders and well known in this community called Nasu. It's a resort town in the mountains. It is south of Sendai and the Tsunami didn't make it here, so all the damage that is around is from the earthquake. This is a retirement community also and many people had much damage to the inside of their homes but because they are too weak cannot move furniture or things and get resettled. Because the Japanese culture is to show yourself put together and such a high level of perfection, they will not allow even their closest friends to come in and help them get cleaned up. Plus the aftershocks and continued earthquakes are still so strong they feel there is no point to clean up, for fear it will just happen again. We are trying to locate and reach those people and help them, as they will be more willing to let a gajin (foreigner) in to help.

More than that, this is the area that all the people from Fukushima have evacuated to. We are safe here (monitored constantly) and the radiation levels are actually less than Tokyo because it is not down the coast from the plant. But thousands of people were told to leave their homes on March 11th as a precaution, because the tsunami was coming towards them, and then the plant got messy and they have never returned home. Many did not take even their wallets with them because they thought they would be home in 30 minutes. and here we are 4 wks after and they are still living in a shelter with 2,000 other people. this is home. Most are living in uncertainty as they don't know if their house is still standing and if it is will they ever be able to go back "home" because of the plant? So, what do you do? Do you relocate to a new area, try and find a job to support your family, do you wait to see if you'll be able to go back, but when will that even be? How do we start over? Most will need everything. Some of our connections have husbands or dads working at the power plant, the reality is they may never see them again. When you start to see faces and hear stories, it is no longer just numbers in a shelter or 50 men that are working at a power plant. this is real lives, real trauma, real hurt, real hearts.

We are starting to see, that the emotional, spiritual and mental care of these people are probably what this particular base camp will specialize in. Sending counselors and people that can speak the language to build a relationship, listen, counsel and help emotionally will be what they need. They don't have a ton of long term physical needs, but the mental trauma of not only the earthquake and tsunami but also everything surrounding "the fukushima power plant" will haunt them for a long while. More than 2 million Fukushima residents are expected to live in constant fear of perceived danger. We talked with a woman who had started some counseling for the Moms that were evacuees and asked them how they felt. They said they felt like they had a stamp on the forehead because they were from Fukushima. They felt like they were bad moms because they wanted to go back, but they just wanted to start normal life again and go "home". "Home" looks really different right now for about 80,000 Fukushima residents that have evacuated. and it may never look the same again.

I love something that the Kondo-sans (the couple we are living with, and take note that I think they are close to 70 yrs old, when most people are winding down and retiring) said a couple days ago..."we have been here for 29 years living and working and we believe that those 29 years were just God preparing us for this one year that's ahead." May I follow the Kondo-sans example and let my life be in preparation for something bigger.

P.S. and listen to your voicemails. once in a while they are kinda important. ;)